Many companies and other organizations operate computer networks that interconnect numerous computing systems to support their operations and the services they provide to their end customers distributed worldwide. For example, data centers housing significant numbers of interconnected computing systems have become commonplace, such as private data centers that are operated by and on behalf of a single organization, and public data centers that are operated by entities as businesses to provide computing resources to customers.
In data centers, a significant number of network connections may be required in each server rack. Each rack in a data center may, for example, include a top-of-rack switch that has a receptacle panel or port panel for plugging in numerous network connector plugs (for example, 48 ports). The network connector ports may connect the top-of-rack switch to servers mounted in a rack and also connect the top-of-rack switch to a shared network within the data center.
A network switch, such as a top-of-rack switch, may comprise several ports mounted on a front face of the network switch. The network switch may include a printed circuit board that includes switching circuits and circuit traces that electrically connect the switching circuits to the ports mounted on the network switch. The lengths of the circuit traces connecting the ports to the switching circuits may vary considerably depending on the location of a given port on the front face of the network switch relative to a switching circuit of the network switch. For example, a port mounted on an outer edge of the front face of a network switch may be connected to a switching circuit in the center of the network switch by a circuit trace that is longer than a port mounted in the center of the front face of the network switch connected to the same switching circuit. Also a network switch, such as a top-of-rack switch, may have a limited amount of surface area on the front face of the switch to mount receptacles or ports to connect servers to the network switch.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.